‘A sharp learning curve’: Lewis says England players must cope with growing scrutiny

The England coach, Jon Lewis, said his players experienced a “sharp learning curve” about perception management in the fallout from their disastrous group-stage exit in last month’s T20 World Cup. The team’s fitness, professionalism and leadership were all called into question.Criticism was directed at the players when they fell apart against West Indies after their captain Heather Knight’s injury-enforced absence from the field, dropping six straightforward catches, as the team seemed to panic when Nat Sciver-Brunt took the reins. Further pointed remarks were then made about the conditioning of some players.But as the team look to the future, beginning with a multi-format series in South Africa this month, Lewis backed Sciver-Brunt to remain as vice-captain while admitting they need to work on “developing the next group of leaders” to prepare for life beyond Knight

Cavaliers off to best NBA start since 2015-16 Warriors after 12th straight win

Donovan Mitchell scored a season-high 36 points, and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Chicago Bulls 119-113 on Monday night to become just the eighth NBA team to begin a season with 12 straight wins.Darius Garland scored 17 points for Cleveland, and Evan Mobley had 15 points and 11 rebounds. The Cavaliers scored at least 110 points for the 11th time this season. Their 12-0 record is the best start to a season since the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors, who went 24-0 to open their campaign. That Warriors team finished the season 73-9, another record, although they lost the NBA finals to … the Cavaliers

The Breakdown | Rugby is crying out for fresh global vision in crucial leadership vote

There are plenty of major rugby union contests happening this month but perhaps the most far-reaching is taking place in Dublinon Thursday. World Rugby’s assembled delegates will vote in a new chair and the outcome is not yet the foregone conclusion so often served up on these occasions.The race to succeed the retiring Bill Beaumont is a three-way one between Australia’s Brett Robinson, France’s Abdelatif Benazzi and Italy’s Andrea Rinaldo, with Robinson regarded as the frontrunner. The winner needs 27 votes and sources suggest it is not inconceivable that, after one first-round runner is eliminated, Benazzi could gain some game-altering last-minute extra backers.It has already been an acrimonious tussle with Scotland’s John Jeffrey having withdrawn from contention after being advised his own union would no longer support him

The Ravens defense to a one-man team: Super Bowl contenders’ (potentially) fatal flaws

As the business end of the season comes into view, we look at the weaknesses that could end the championship hopes of some of the league’s best teamsAs we career at high speed into the second half of the season, even the best NFL teams have issues they need to shore up before the playoffs. Because in the postseason every mistake is magnified, and every big play is bigger.So, here are five of the NFL’s most credible contenders, and the one potentially fatal flaw that could boot each one of those squads out of the race to Super Bowl LIX. The list is far from exhaustive – there are plenty of other teams who could win the title – feel free to add your own choices, and their weaknesses, below.Weakness: A lack of explosive offensive playmakers

Australian Olympic sports risk funding cuts amid ‘glacial’ growth in women coaches

The “glacial” growth in the number of women coaches at the elite level has forced Australian Olympic sports to up their game in order to meet community expectations and avoid the federal government adopting the “stick” of funding cuts.Fewer than one in five coaches at the Paris Games were women, or 18.6%, up barely three percentage points from Tokyo, and from 9% in Rio in 2016. Some sports recorded lower figures, including elite athletics at 12% and golf at 6%.Australian Sports Commission chair Kate Jenkins said women had achieved broad success in sports administration and as athletes, but that she was impatient to see more progress among high-performance coaches

South Asian cricket is booming in Australia. Why is that trend not yet reflected at representative levels?

On a Monday night in October in Sydney’s west, a social game of tape ball cricket served as a vision for the sport’s new era. The tennis ball was wrapped in electrical tape, as is normal to the variant born in Karachi. The players were largely of Pakistani descent. Families watched, children played along the boundary.It was an otherwise normal game of the accessible form of cricket that has proven popular across South Asia since its development in Pakistan 60 years ago